


War Paint

by daroos



Category: Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (2012)
Genre: Domestic, F/M, Getting Dressed, Morning Routines
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-17
Updated: 2013-07-17
Packaged: 2017-12-20 10:28:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,411
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/886188
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/daroos/pseuds/daroos
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Pepper wears makeup like war paint.</p>
            </blockquote>





	War Paint

**Author's Note:**

> Special thanks to Twisteningenue for the extra-quick beta job. Wonderful stuff.

JARVIS had perfected the art of directing the lighting so it wouldn’t hurt Tony’s eyes before he had ever begun sleeping with Pepper. The one-night stands who would sneak out of his room before he woke from his alcohol-induced slumber had given JARVIS plenty of room to practice. So it wasn’t painful light that woke him, but rather the absence of the warm, solid presence on the other side of the bed combined with a soft glow. The shower was running, and the bathroom light was barely shining through between the thick carpet and the bottom of the door. The faintest sounds of rushing water could be heard, along with a low conversation Pepper and JARVIS were having, probably about her morning schedule.

He rolled over so he could stare at the door while still ensconced in the bed sheets and drifted. Pepper got up before him. It was a fact of life, like the sun rising, and Steve being disapproving. Sometimes she was up before he even got to bed - those were bad nights - and sometimes she would cajole him awake, as they both had to be somewhere. Days like this were his favorite, though. He’d gotten a solid four hours, was just coming out of his first REM cycle, and she was getting ready for the day. He was still sleepy and heavy of limb, but he wasn’t exhausted and muzzy.

The water shut off. The conversation became a bit more audible, JARVIS even and solicitous in a way he _never_ was with Tony, and Pepper’s voice high and sweet. It was the only time her voice sounded like that. As soon as she was in CEO mode, her voice turned to stern commands, longsuffering insistences, and steely-hard statements. Before the sun was up, or at least before JARVIS let it into their room, it was soft and sweet, like a songbird.

She stepped out of the bathroom in a billow of steam, towel wrapped around her hair, a second, larger towel, still running over her body. She was a pink he only saw after showers, or inadvisably long afternoons sunbathing. She glowed with pinkess. He must have made some guttural noise of approval, because her towel-bedecked crown swiveled towards him, and she smiled. Naked and glowing pink and just a little damp still, she swayed over to him and kissed him on the brow. “Back to sleep, baby,” she told him, and he made a reply, muffled by his own goatee, closed his eyes again and cuddled closer to her pillow.

She snorted and dropped her towel, walking to the closet. Tony was a fashion whore, but Pepper had him beat for depth and breadth of wardrobe. Part of that, he understood, was the burden of being a professional woman; there were so many vague requirements made of her fashion choices. He didn’t envy her in the least, and for the most part was grateful he was rich enough, and male enough, to get away with a suit jacket and sneakers at everything but black tie events.

The closet door clicked shut once more and he cracked open his eyes. She had chosen a dark green suit - just a little bit casual, and just a little bit elven queen. It made her hair look like it was on fire, and her skin look like it was made of fresh-poured cream and strawberries. Tomatoes? Those weren’t sexy. Raspberries. Pepper liked raspberries and wouldn’t die from them. She toweled her hair dry and combed it out. It was mysterious to Tony, even as a materials engineer, how her hair dried so quickly. She never blow dried it as far as he could tell, but a good toweling and a shake or two and it was ready before she walked out the door. She picked through the bureau and pulled out a bodysuit and a pair of stockings. Tony would happily admit that peeling her silly body-shaping suit off of her at the end of her work day was the best part of unwrapping his Pepper presents.

She stepped into the bodysuit, pulled the thighs snug against her crotch, and settled each breast in the bra cups. Her butt wiggled at him with the movements of her bosom adjustments and he made another noise. She turned and gave him a long-suffering look. She sat at the bench at the end of their bed to pull on her stockings. The strong line of her back bending and stretching, the fine muscles that made the dip towards her spine and the swoop of her shoulder blades working under freckled skin, was art. She clipped the stockings to the garters on the bodysuit and stood.

She moved whisper-quiet and sat at her vanity. JARVIS brightened the lights slowly so he didn’t hurt her eyes. She pulled out her makeup kit. Tony would freely admit he didn’t know what most of it was. There were a lot of creams involved in her daily regime, and a lot of powders and things made up of colors which were only barely different. She ran her hands over her face to start and peered closely at herself, before tying her hair back and beginning her ritual.

Concealer went beneath her eyes as a base coat. He knew the dark stripes that sometimes formed under her eyes was a source of annoyance for her, and she assiduously covered her under-eyes. She looked like a linebacker, or an Amazon, putting on stripes of war paint before going into battle. This was the beginning of her transition from woman to CEO. Her skin went from glowing pink to its habitual blush-tinged cream, and her face went from mobile and wry to set and determined. Things went on over the concealer; base coats or something, and then a delicate brush of blush over her cheekbones.

Her eyelids took three separate colors before she got to mascara, and Tony could see Miss Potts emerging. Mascara without her lipstick made her eyes look huge and wild in the reflection of the mirror. “I can see you staring,” she told him without meeting his eyes.

He growled something unintelligible. He felt bound to the bed in the best of ways. He wasn’t held against his will, but hugged close in the embrace of his expensive sheets and soft pillows, and the safe ritual of watching Pepper ready herself for the day. It was the simplest of luxuries for him.

She picked a lipstick and swiped it on - redder than usual. She was the dark queen, lips freshly reddened from eating the hearts of her enemies: she looked like she was hungry for more today. It was good; she was laying down the law with some of the more errant elements of the R&D department. She put on a slip and a white silk shirt that fell like water over her shoulders and chest. If he were awake and up, Tony would have liked to go searching for skin under that blouse, the soft feeling of warm skin and the liquid feeling of fine silk contrasting against his callouses. She skirt went on with a matter-of-fact zip, hiding the top of her stockings and the criminally appealing view of her ass. She picked through her jewelry, deciding on a sapphire and platinum choker he (she) had gotten for her for a birthday long forgotten. Her watch clicked on her wrist. It was a comforting sound, as it meant he had a tracker on her unless her watch was taken. She let her hair down and combed through it again; dry already. With a practiced twist, she put it up in a bun, pulling a tight rein on everything that made her soft Pepper and giving CEO Potts the lead.

She toed on her heels and picked up her jacket before coming by for a kiss. “Come back to bed and I will make it worth your while,” Tony promised.

She looked down at him, her war paint on, her armor settling on her frame, and she was lost to him. “No,” she told him, kissing him again and leaving a smudge of lipstick on his mouth and a wisp of her perfume in his nose. The heart shape of her ass walking away from him was the only goodbye he got. Luckily, he knew she would be back, later than either of them liked, to be stripped and peeled down to just Pepper. His Pepper.


End file.
